I’m currently pushing through the Shattered Realm (just hit Shard 34) and I’ve noticed that I’m consistently walking right past the Shrines without touching them.
Looking at the Wiki, every single one seems to come with a significant trade-off. You gain a massive buff to one stat but take a punishing hit to another.
My question is: Does anybody actually use these?
It feels like a massive gamble for a few reasons:
The “Blind” Factor: Since you don’t know what the next chunk or the boss room holds, taking a “trade-off” buff feels like it could easily brick a run.
Cost vs. Reward: At lower shards, they don’t seem necessary. At higher shards (30+), the penalties seem too dangerous to risk.
Am I missing a specific strategy here? Are there certain Shrines that are considered “must-haves” for specific archetypes, or are they just there as a “trap” for the unwary?
I’d love to hear if any high-shard runners incorporate these into their climbs, or if the general consensus is just to ignore them entirely.
That wiki is out of date. Shrines were reworked in 1.2 and no longer have negative effects. They also only cost an aetherial shard.
But … I am not sure anyone uses them except to get the use-shrines achievement. I have certainly never seen any run on YouTube that uses them. I think the shard cost, though cheap, is still off-putting, as is the fact that you have to stop-click-click.
I think that if they had no cost and if you could activate them just by touching them (Diablo 3 style), people would use them.
If I’m testing a build’s performance I never use them (or pharmacy), but if I’m climbing or just farming, then might as well. It only costs an Aether Shard per shrine (far as I know) and I have like 1000+ of those.
The shrine buffs don’t carry over to the Boss rooms unfortunately.
As Toxophilix said, there are no trade-offs. I recommend always checking the official game guide first Guide instead of that advertisement festival that the Fandom wiki is, since Crate keeps the game guide updated.